To any iPhone or iPod user who has ever looked into external battery solutions, Mophie is a familiar name. We have tested and reviewed Mophie Juice Pack for the iPhone and have high regard for the intelligent charging technology and the battery life the Juice Packs provide for iDevices. Now mophie has released two smaller external battery packs that are in a different format: a small block instead of a jacket form. The Juice Pack Boost is larger and has a 1500mAh battery, while the Juice Pack Reserve is smaller and has a 1000mAh battery. We look at the Mophie Juice Pack Reserve for this review.

Design

The juice pack reserve is currently mophie?s smallest battery measuring 1.6 x 3.15 x 0.63 inches. The small battery pack has a soft surface and comes with a keychain attachment with a climbing hook to attach to your keychain, if you don?t mind the 1.8-ounce extra weight. It has a 30-pin connector on the other side of the keychain hook and one nice thing about it is that it?s retractable. If you put the Juice Pack Reserve in your backpack, suitcase or just hang it somewhere on your bag, you can retract the connector into the battery body to avoid any damage to the connector. When you are ready to use it, just push the connector out.

The juice pack reserve has four white LED lights along with an LED button for checking the battery power level. The micro USB charging port lives on the side of the battery pack and an LED flashlight lives next to the 30-pin connector.

Features

Mophie makes safe batteries as we?ve found in mophie?s battery jacket series. The Juice Pack Reserve also has built-in safety features such as short circuit, overcharging and temperature protection. The battery will turn on to charge automatically as soon as you plug it into an iDevice, and turns itself off upon disconnecting. Your iPhone or iPod will display a charging icon with an audio alert when connected to the mophie. We tested the Juice Pack Reserve with an iPhone 4, and the 1000mAh battery filled up to 40% of iPhone 4?s battery. It transfers its full charge to the iPhone 4 in less than an hour.

The Mophie Juice Pack Reserve comes with a USB-micro USB cable, and you can charge it using your computer or the iPhone/iPod charger. The battery block charges in a couple of hours via computer and faster via AC. The four white LED lights indicate how full the battery level is on the pack. When the battery is fully charged, all four LED indicators light up, and you can check the level anytime by pressing the LED switch quickly. If you hold the LED switch, the built-in flashlight will turn on. Like other mophie battery products, the Juice Pack Reserve is good for over 500 full charging cycles. Full charging cycles mean that if you charge the battery pack partially, like say 10%, the battery won?t count it as full until you charge 10 more times at 10% each.

While the mophie Juice Pack Reserve works flawlessly for charging, the battery pack doesn't hold a charge for very long. It often loses its charge a couple of days after it?s been fully charged. So it?s a good solution if you need to top off your iPhone/iPod?s battery for a short trip or daily use, but it's not a good solution for long trips unless you have access to AC outlets.

Mophie is a trusted brand when it comes to providing external battery solutions for iDevices. The Juice Pack Reserve is small, rugged and can fit anywhere in your bag, purse or even a keychain. The battery has 1000mAh of extra juice when you need your device to last 40% longer before you can reach an AC outlet. The battery pack can be charged over AC or computer and it?s easy to use. The mophie offers a solid number of full charging cycles, and it?s money well spent if your iDevice needs a bit of topping off to make it through a day or a trip. The battery doesn?t hold the charge long. So it?s not meant for long trips away from AC. And if you need something with even more power, check out the Juice Pack Boost which should add another 20%-30% charge with its 1500mAh capacity.